INSIDE THE COOLEST PLACE TO BE

Since opening in 2016, Aquatopia Water Park has expanded several times to add more exciting attractions.

INSIDE THE

AQUATOPIA WATER PARK BRINGS HOME AFFORDABLE WATERPARK FUN TO VISITORS AND RESIDENTS OF FAIRFIELD CITY, NSW, AUSTRALIA. PLACE TO BE

For moms, dads and kids seeking a way to beat the heat in Sydney’s Western suburbs, they need look no further than Aquatopia Water Park, a unique and ground-breaking waterpark that is part of the Prairiewood Leisure Centre.

The Prairiewood Leisure Centre is a large aquatic center that features a 50-meter outdoor pool, a 25-meter indoor pool, a gymnasium, indoor water play areas and several other amenities. The center was built to serve the health and recreational needs of the local community. Members can exercise on their own, participate in group fitness classes from Aqua classes to Zumba or take advantage of a complimentary one-on-one consultation with an exercise trainer.

Learn-to-swim classes also are available for all ages, from infants, preschoolers, tweens and teens to adults who may have minimal swim skills or wish to further develop their skills. Memberships are available in a variety of packages and are reasonably priced to make them affordable to those who live in the surrounding areas.

Prairiewood Leisure Centre’s most unique feature though is undoubtedly Aquatopia Water Park. Thanks to its attraction mix that provides something fun for everyone, Aquatopia has become one of the most popular places to to be during the hot summer months.

CREATING A PLACE TO ENJOY WATER ATTRACTIONS

To start, Aquatopia was built in four phases with the first phase beginning in 2015.

Aquatopia Water Park officially opened in 2016 and its initial offerings included a large splash pad and a 10-meter waterslide tower, constructed by Swimplex Aquatics with waterslides by Polin Waterparks.

Guests who visit can rent a cabana that holds up to 30 people and offers access to a BBQ area.

The large aquatic play structure, which remains the centerpiece of the waterpark, sits on 800 square meters of colorful, zero depth splash pad. Four body slides from the 10-meter tower offer different experiences for all ages.

Additionally, phase one of the project included the installation of a toddler pool with static features from Parkequip and Waterplay, along with a series of rentable cabanas to help families make a full day of it at Aquatopia.

Following the very successful opening of the waterpark, Aquatopia welcomed “Stingray,” an endless surf ride from Murphys Waves, and a fish pipe inflatable water ride in 2017.

Then, in 2018, Swimplex Aquatics and Polin Waterparks were again chosen to deliver the next phase of the waterpark. This expansion included a 20-meter slide tower, which was another first for a council-owned facility in Australia. The new waterslides included a three lane headfirst racer slide, a free fall slide and a “Looping Rocket” trap-door style slide.

These additions elevated Aquatopia into a different league and were extremely well received by the community.

CONTINUING THE EXPANSION AT AQUATOPIA

Following these successful additions, the waterpark was ready for a new expansion, which began in 2019 but was delayed until 2021 due to challenges created by the COVID pandemic.

For its latest expansion, the waterpark decided to add a wave pool. Aquatic Development Group, a company well known for

THE LARGE AQUATIC PLAY STRUCTURE, WHICH REMAINS THE CENTERPIECE OF THE

its many first-to-market wave system innovations, was brought in to create the WATERPARK, SITS ON 800 only wave pool on the market purposely designed and built to employ waves for SQUARE METERS OF COLORFUL, three distinct applications: boogie boarding, learn-tosurf and recreational waves. ZERO DEPTH SPLASH PAD. This project posed many unique challenges that went beyond the scope of the wave system, including designing the bathymetry for a small footprint pool and a request to incorporate space within the pool for learn-to-swim programming.

Swimplex Aquatics was once again engaged to help with the build of this complex pool design. Working within a limited site plan, the challenge faced by ADG and Swimplex was to design and build this multi-programmable wave pool within a compact footprint of only 40-meters in length. The pool itself would be a stainless steel modular pool provided by Myrtha Pools from Italy.

To create the wave system, ADG developed an enhanced version of their existing Breaker Beach boogie boarding pool and utilized a pneumatic computerized wave technology application that allows for precise wave performance monitoring and timing. This enables the park’s ride operators to easily tailor the waves for each type of application, for example, providing shorter wave intervals for recreational waves, and longer intervals for boogie boarding and learn-to-surf. Due to travel restrictions brought about by the pandemic, ADG’s wave engineers were not able to be on site during the project. Hence, much of the work was done between ADG, Swimplex and the folks on the ground at Aquatopia through the incorporation of multiple remote technologies to program and commission the wave system.